Ever since automobiles have been driven with headlights at night, there has been a problem of how to reduce the glare of oncoming headlights when meeting another automobile. One method of reducing headlight glare is by the driver wearing eyeglasses with lenses having partially shaded or opaque areas intended to block headlight glare. My copending application Ser. No. 07/049,705 filed of even date with this application and entitled "Anti-glare Eyeglasses" describes and claims eyeglasses and similar articles worn by the driver which are effective in reducing or eliminating headlight glare. The disclosure of said copending application is incorporated herein by reference. Since anti-glare eyeglasses must be worn by the driver, it is desirable to have a visor system, assembly or combination on the vehicle to screen or reduce headlight glare. A number of attempts have been made to provide visors or visor systems on vehicles which reduce or eliminate headlight glare. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,829,920 to Cohen; No. 2,831,725 to Chester; No. 2,831,726 to Ralston; No. 2,855,241 to Walter; No. 3,021,173 to Levin; No. 3,199,114 to Malifaud; No. 3,428,360 to Honor; No. 3,445,135 to Masi; No. 3,692,355 to Hong; No. 4,090,733 to Altschul; No. 4,195,876 to Timperio; No. 4,323,275 to Lutz; No. 4,351,557 to Chary; No. 4,521,047 to Saxman; No. 4,570,991 to Lystad and No. 4,606,572 to Maguire disclose various forms and configurations of visors for vehicles.
Of the various anti-glare visors in the prior art, none has satisfactorily solved the problem of headlight glare and each design contains certain deficiences and problems in actual use. For example, some are too restrictive, block too much vision and are not easily adjustable to variable road conditions. Others reduce vision in the primary field of vision. Moreover, the problem of headlight glare in rear view mirros has not been addressed satisfactorily. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide anti-glare visor systems and combinations for effective elimination or reduction of headlight glare.
I have observed that during night driving the driver's eyes are adapted to low light levels and are sensitive to bright light. It is believed that the pupils of the eyes are open wide and the retinas are adapted to viewing objects in dim light and are very sensitive to bright light. When exposed to a bright light, suddenly or momentarily, like an on-coming headlight, the bright light causes momentary or temporary "blindness" in at least that part of the eye and frequently in most or all of the eye, particularly when the ambient light conditions are very low and the bright light is very bright. It is believed that this momentary or temporary "blindness" is caused by the pupil closing and by over exposure of the retina while the eye is in a sensitised condition due to the low ambient light conditions. Recovery from this temporary "blindness" and a return to normal sight for the existing conditions can take a certain amount of time before road conditions ahead of the driver can be seen agains clearly enough. This results in a very dangerous condition when a driver of a motor vehicle is momentarily or temporarily "blinded" by headlight glare and cannot see normally for such a period of time, particularly when the driver is traveling at a high rate of speed. This momentary or temporary "blindness" can be caused not only from the glare from headlights of on-coming vehicles but also and independently from the glare from headlights reflected in rear view mirrors from vehicles following the driver. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide effective shielding in either or both cases, that is of both on-coming headlight glare and/or the glare of headlights reflected in rear view mirrors.